Futurecom is the largest telecom conference and trade show in South America, held in Sao Paulo, Brazil every Autumn, bringing over 15,000 attendees from over 40 countries. This year, VNL hosted a 150 sqm booth located at B10.

At the show, we announced that we were actively looking for both resellers and manufacturing partners. As a company focused on being green and socially responsible, VNL is looking to manufacture or source most of the components locally that are not part of our core business, and our mission is to create these jobs locally with local partners. Some of our staff were able to tour different local factories (enjoying a delicious lunch of spicy pan-fried crocodile during one road trip!) to ascertain the capabilities of potential partners. This is a critically important goal for VNL. Shipping steel to the farthest corners of the planet from India, while feasible, is not the most green or socially responsible methodology available. Our business model is to do good while building a profitable business, and our business is low power GSM and broadband for rural areas.

The introduction of broadband to our offering caused a stir with local operators. Many were incredulous when they saw the technology at the booth and were inspired to get started. They immediately understood how VNL’s WorldGSM™ technology could impact the rural areas of their countries and were eager to learn more.

Rajiv Mehrotra, Founder, Chairman & CEO of VNL was interviewed by Telesemana where he discussed why VNL was entering the Latin America market and the synergies between India and Brazil. He also presented “Using Solar Power to Deploy Networks in Low Economy Rural Areas” which was well attended by operators, press and analysts.

Mobile operators in Africa now have a way to provide mobile voice and broadband services to rural communities and still turn a profit.

VNL is proud to announce its participation at Africa Com 2010. This conference will be held at the Cape Town Convention Centre in Cape Town, South Africa from November 10th to 11th, 2010.

VNL’s participation will announce the addition of broadband services as part of their award-winning WorldGSM™ solution for Africa – the solar powered GSM network infrastructure equipment specifically made for rural areas with ARPUs of less than $2. WorldGSM™ is the first commercially viable GSM system that is independent of the power grid. It runs exclusively on solar power and requires no diesel generator backup. It is also designed for simple delivery and deployment by local, untrained workers – all resulting in zero OPEX, dramatically lower CAPEX, and near zero maintenance.

The next billion subscribers will be coming from rural populations, away from saturated urban markets. If you’re planning on visiting Africa Com 2010, stop by VNL’s booth and see the future of rural wireless telephony. VNL is changing the DNA of rural telecom by providing commercially viable new building blocks that will transform the way you build your networks in the future.

Mobile operators in Latin America now have a way to provide mobile voice and broadband services to rural communities and still turn a profit at 2-3 $ ARPU.

Sao Paulo, Brazil — 26th October, 2010: VNL (www.vnl.in) today announced the launch of broadband capability as part of their solar powered telecom infrastructure solutions for the Latin American market. Their award-winning WorldGSM™ solution is solar powered and specifically made for rural areas with ARPUs of less than $2 – $3.

WorldGSM™ is the first commercially available GSM system that is independent of the power grid. It runs exclusively on solar power and requires no diesel generator backup. It is also designed for simple delivery and deployment by local, untrained workers – all resulting in zero OPEX, dramatically lower CAPEX, and near zero maintenance.

High speed broadband internet access enables village children to take advantage of distance learning and other e-learning initiatives, while the village community can utilize the system for e-medicine, e-finance and e-governance tasks. VNL has found a new way to extend networks sustainably using simple, affordable structures that bring voice and broadband connectivity to rural areas, all at a very low ARPU that is attractive to operators.

VNL’s turnkey rural network solution enables rural communities to access mobile phone services and high speed internet (outdoor & indoor) without depending on the power grid or diesel generators to run the network. Traditional models of infrastructure have proved to be unviable in rural areas because of the huge demand for power and the high OPEX as a result of running networks on diesel in the absence of grid power.

Speaking at Futurecom, Rajiv Mehrotra, Founder, Chairman of the Shyam Group of companies said:

“We believe that we have an exciting new range of solutions which are ideal for the markets of Latin America. “The demand for high-speed data networks in rural is a need unmet, and we are here at the right time. Our solar powered rural broadband network solution is an example of affordable and sustainable technology to connect remote communities.

We are actively looking for partners in the region to take our plans forward. The essence of VNL’s vision is to develop strategic local partnerships at all levels. We are also considering investing in manufacturing in Brazil. We are open to technology collaboration with companies based in Brazil to take our solutions to the remote interiors where millions of people are waiting to be connected. We are on a mission to connect the unconnected, and we will share know how to those who join hands with us.

We are also extremely hopeful that the Brazilian Government will find our green solution ideal to connect the unconnected in a sustainable way, paving the way for development. The response from everyone at Futurecom has been tremendous.”

The solutions are on display at Booth # B10, Futurecom, Transamerica Expo Center in Sao Paulo, Brazil from October 25th through 28th, 2010.

Mobile operators in Asia now have a way to provide mobile voice and broadband services to rural communities and still turn a profit.

VNL is proud to announce its participation as a Senior Sponsor at the Connecting the Next Billion Conference 2010. This conference will be held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia from November 2nd through 4th, 2010.

VNL’s participation will announce the addition of broadband services as part of their award-winning WorldGSM™ solution for the APAC region – the solar powered GSM network infrastructure equipment specifically made for rural areas with ARPUs of less than $2. WorldGSM™ is the first commercially viable GSM system that is independent of the power grid. It runs exclusively on solar power and requires no diesel generator backup. It is also designed for simple delivery and deployment by local, untrained workers – all resulting in zero OPEX, dramatically lower CAPEX, and near zero maintenance.

The next billion subscribers will be coming from rural populations, away from saturated urban markets. If you’re planning on visiting Connecting the Next Billion 2010, stop by VNL’s booth and see the future of rural wireless telephony. VNL is changing the DNA of rural telecom by providing commercially viable new building blocks that will transform the way you build your networks in the future.

Mobile operators in Latin America now have a way to provide mobile voice and broadband services to rural communities and still turn a profit.

VNL is proud to announce its participation at Futurecom 2010. This conference and exhibition will be held at the Trans America Convention Center in Sao Paulo, Brazil from October 25th through 28th, 2010.

VNL’s participation will announce the addition of broadband services as part of their award-winning WorldGSM™ solution for Latin America – the solar powered GSM network infrastructure equipment specifically made for rural areas with ARPUs of less than $2. WorldGSM™ is the first commercially viable GSM system that is independent of the power grid. It runs exclusively on solar power and requires no diesel generator backup. It is also designed for simple delivery and deployment by local, untrained workers – all resulting in zero OPEX, dramatically lower CAPEX, and near zero maintenance.

The next billion subscribers will be coming from rural populations, away from saturated urban markets. If you’re planning on visiting Futurecom 2010, stop by VNL’s booth and see the future of rural wireless telephony. VNL is changing the DNA of rural telecom by providing commercially viable new building blocks that will transform the way you build your networks in the future.

NEW DELHI – July 23, 2010: VNL was recognized in the m-Business & Commerce category of the 2010 mBillionth Awards sponsored by the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF). The mBillionth Award honours the potential of the mobile sector across South Asia.

The award recognises companies that best fulfill the category criteria, which is the use of mobile and complementing applications and embedded services for support and optimization of business processes and the creation of new business models in commerce like m-commerce. The mBillionth Committee chose VNL’s WorldGSM® from more than 200 nominations that were received. The nominations came from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, and the Maldives.

About the mBillionth Award (http://mbillionth.in/)
The mBillionth Award South Asia 2010 is first of its kind in the region recognising and facilitating mobile innovations, applications and content services delivery. Its mission is to honour excellence in mobile communications across South Asia spread over nine core categories. The mBillionth Award is South Asia’s leading mobile content award aimed at a larger, regional mobile congress in media and policy advocacy.

About Digital Empowerment Foundation (http://www.defindia.net/)
The Digital Empowerment Foundation is a Delhi based not-for-profit organization that seeks to find solutions to bridge the digital divide. It was founded by Osama Manzar to uplift the downtrodden and to create economic and commercial viability using Information Communication and Technology as means.

VNL has been shortlisted in the m-Business & Commerce category for the 2010 mBillionth award sponsored by the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF).

The award has been instituted for projects that best fulfill the category criteria, which is the use of mobile and complementing applications and embedded services for support and optimization of business processes; creation of new business models in commerce like m-commerce, business to business, business to consumers, internet security and other areas; supporting small and medium enterprises in the marketplace, m-Banking like banking services, microfinance and micro-banking through mobile devices, etc.

The mBillionth Committee chose VNL’s WorldGSM® from over 200 nominations that were received. The nominations came from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, and the Maldives.

The awards Grand Jury met in Colombo, Sri Lanka on June 11th and 12th to choose the final winners. Their names will be announced at the Inter Continental Hotel, Nehru Place in New Delhi, India on July 23, 2010.

About the mBillionth Award (http://mbillionth.in/)
mBillionth Award honours the potential of the mobile sector across South Asia. These phones and mobile gadgets can now do anything from allowing physicians to review patient records on-the-go, to alerting drivers in any city of nearby parking spaces while looking for a spot, in addition to the texting, surfing and calling capabilities of many of today’s phones.

The mBillionth Award South Asia 2010 is first of its kind in the region recognising and facilitating mobile innovations, applications and content services delivery. It is to honour excellence in mobile communications across South Asia spread over nine core categories. The mBillionth Award is South Asia’s leading mobile content award aimed at a larger, regional mobile congress in media and policy advocacy.

About Digital Empowerment Foundation (http://www.defindia.net/)
The Digital Empowerment Foundation is a Delhi based not-for-profit organization that seeks to find solutions to bridge the digital divide. With no political affiliations, it was founded by Osama Manzar to uplift the downtrodden and to create economic and commercial viability using Information Communication and Technology as means.

DEF’s mission is to see widespread development, use, promotion, and accessibility of affordable digital content based on cultural specifics or language necessities. The mission is to enable communities to be aware and conscious of the utility and necessity of using ICT for their empowerment.